Along the river and toward the mountains a morning shadow shimmers across the road. The rays of the first light jet through the trees and across a figure gliding upon the road. His breath trails in short spurts, petrified as it hits the icy air. All is quiet except the slight sound of the athlete as he summons himself for yet another days work. Soon the rest of the world will bustle with life as well and the brief simplicity of cyclist and nature will disappear into the everyday struggle of life in full motion; the errands and intervals, the appointments and intersections, and the deadlines and finish lines OutPaceTheRace

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Knock on wood

Hilo, HawaiiSunday, December 01, 2007

I’m shocked, shocked to find that Hilo is the second largest city in the Hawaiian Islands! Where are the people? Where is the metro-area? Isn’t that usually synonymous with places of population? I guess mixing Hawaii with population is a mistake in itself, though the highways are more congested than most any that I’ve left tread of tire on. The most memorable experience of such was when I went to Hawaii for the first time… to Oahu of course, and went ahead and did some training. The riding is superb on all the islands if you don’t mind putting your life on the line 10 times a ride, which of course, being an infidel ‘n all, I don’t mind atoll (at all). On this first visit I was on a training regime that called for a 4.5 hour ride I think, and since the islands are “sooo small” I thought I’ll just ride around Oahu a couple times and it’ll be perfect. Once I got all the way around (once) and was coming through Honolulu I was on the verge of 6+ hours and about ready to fuel my thirst with a nice refreshing drink of ocean water. The streets of Honolulu are of by far the worst design in the world (even worse than Seattle) and entirely jam packed with cars during the day. Since I didn’t get hit that day I left feeling pretty invincible, and on top of that I was even more intrigued by the area contained in the island… but most of all, I left knowing that all the islands had the most spectacular climbing in the world. So if you’re a cycling enthusiast looking for some good hard riding Hawaii will provide it, just be ready to don you’re lead suit…if you’re mortal, you’ll probably need it.I rode yesterday for 4 hours. I looked at a map and decided on a couple routes, one of which was off highway 11, called Stainback Highway. On Google earth it looked like a little road that went off into the jungle. It turned out to be a nice little road that went up, and up, and up, and continued to go up 4800 feet from sea level until it culminated at the Hawaii State Correctional facility. Nice place I must say, though I met only a fairly pretentious looking fence and a most jovial security guard at the top, the view was superlative. The guard in reality wasn’t too friendly as most people, probably, are not who work in the pin. It was just that all the way up the road there were these signs that were most informative in regard to the repercussions of continuing on the road; misdemeanor, class c felony… etc., etc. But everything looked so old that I was sure that the road would elapse at some old, rundown prison that was no longer in service… so regardless of the signs I was a bit surprised to actually come to the gate of a functioning state prison. The conversation went like this, “probably can’t go in there, huh?”“No sir.” And then I went back down the hill taking a quick glimpse of Mauna Kea up above and the elevation reading on the Garmin of 1600m.

In the meantime, a foot of snow fell this morning in Nord Bend! If I'd been home, i'd be having some good conversation with myself on the trainer & wheel'n in the XLT with the Michelins on the way to the gym. Apparently the snow that is falling at the moment will turn to rain tonight... which will, no doubt, give cause for a bit of rain and conclude in some heavy flooding to boot. Maybe after today they will rename North Bend, Nord Atoll. It's actually a better name, I think...Severe Weather AlertMUCH OF THE PRECIPITATION IN THE CASCADES TONIGHT WILL FALL AS SNOW...BUT IT WILL SWITCH TO RAIN LATE TONIGHT OR EARLY MONDAY ASTHE FREEZING LEVEL RISES TO AROUND 7000 FEET. RAINFALL IN THE CASCADES COULD RANGE FROM 5 TO 10 INCHES FROM LATE TONIGHTTHROUGH MONDAY EVENING. MANY RIVERS FLOWING OFF THE WEST SLOPES OF THE CASCADES COULD FLOOD MONDAY NIGHT OR TUESDAY...WITH THE PUYALLUP RIVER NEAR ORTING...THE SNOQUALMIE...TOLT...SKYKOMISH...SNOHOMISH...STILLAGUAMISH...SKAGIT...AND NOOKSACK RIVERS PROBABLY FACING THE GREATEST THREAT.